Phenylalkylamine derivatives, one important class of therapeutic medicines that is useful in managing central nervous system (CNS) diseases, have been used mainly to treat obesity, narcolepsy, minimal brain dysfunction and mild depression.
Diamine or amide compounds have been effectively used for controlling various CNS disorders. For example, International Patent Application No. WO 93/22279 discloses 1,2-diamine derivatives that are psychotropic agents particularly suitable for treating psychotic disorders, convulsion, dyskinesia, brain distress and anxiety. Further, N-(arylethyl)-N-alkyl-2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)ethylamine has been demonstrated to bind the sigma receptor. J. Med. Chem. 35, 38 (1992)
The physical and pharmaceutical nature of the sigma receptor has not been fully defined. However, evidence indicates that sigma receptors have a number of biological functions, including motor effects, regulation of dopamine and acetylcholine release, modulation of the NMDA-evoked norepinephrine release, antagonism of opioid analgesia, and mediation of the functional activity of the immune cells. Potential applications of sigma ligands are the treatment of psychosis, dystonia, motor dysfunctions, ischemia, anxiety, epilepsy, convulsion and senile dementia, etc. For example, International Patent Publication No. WO9014067 discloses some guanidine derivatives having sigma receptor activity which are useful as anxielytics.
Accordingly, agents potently acting on the sigma receptors may be useful in the therapy of these conditions. Also, creating the specific drug for sigma receptor interaction and finding the novel pharmacological effect are important for developing new type of drugs.